Last year when a devastating earthquake hit Haiti, Humanist Charities donors provided water, food, medicine, and supplies for the people of Jacmel—a city that hadn’t received any relief assistance until humanist volunteer Sebastian Velez arrived. Since then, Sebastian has worked to bring contraceptives and reproductive care for the women of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, and Humanist Charities has helped to establish two humanist clinics that provide medications and services to hundreds of patients every month.

But now cholera is spreading in Haiti, fueled by lack of latrines. One community of subsistence coffee farmers at the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti is especially vulnerable to a cholera outbreak. Because the community is upstream from several other villages, an outbreak could affect thousands. Sebastian is working with community members with a goal of installing 100 latrines, enough for all the houses in this small community.

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DT Strain is a humanist minister certified by the American Humanist Association. Former president of the Humanists of Houston, he has written on a wide variety of philosophic topics, including articles for the national journal Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism. DT Strain has also appeared on the Houston PBS television program The Connection. He maintains a personal website, The Humanist Contemplative.